Maximum Ram Capacity and How do I know what slots are available?

[johntkucz]

Hey,
Looking to upgrade ram in Dell 14R i3 M380 2.53ghz laptop. It's pretty awesome for a non-main-rig computer and I'm loving it.

Current ram is 4.00gb.

TWO QUESTIONS

1. Is the max ram capacity for this laptop (there are two 14rs, mind you, this one is the M380 chip, an older, but still great, tech spec) 8 EIGHT gb???


2. Given that max ram capacity is 8gb, how do I know what ram slots are installed? (is 2 2gb DIMMs installed or 1 4GB DIMM? If One 4GB DIMM is installed I could continue to use that and just get an additional 4GB, but if only 2 2GB DIMMs are installed I'd have to replace one/both.

 

[Goodeggray]

Go to crucial.com and download and run their system scanner. It will tell you all you need to know about you ram.

 

[Caruda]

There are actually 3 Dell Inspiron 14R Models. All 3 of them accept 8 GB of RAM. They all have 2 slots which means that they support 2 x 4 GB sticks.

The crucial scanner like Goodeggray suggested can tell you what you have in your system. Otherwise, you can reboot your computer and push F2 to get into the BIOS which will have a tab for Memory that will tell you how much RAM is in each slot.

Depending on the exact model you have, your computer can accept DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333, or DDR-1600 memory.

If you have 2 x 2GB sticks, then yes you will need to buy more than one stick. Otherwise, you will want to match the speeds with the stick you already have installed.

 

[johntkucz]

Go to crucial.com and download and run their system scanner. It will tell you all you need to know about you ram.

Brilliant. Thanks goodegg. I will give that a go and respond with results.

 

[johntkucz]

Go to crucial.com and download and run their system scanner. It will tell you all you need to know about you ram.

Yep. Nifty little app that one is!

Yep. DDR3 PC3-10600, DDR3 PC3-8500 Available slots:0. Total Slots: 2. Looks like it's 2 2GB Dimms. If I do the upgrade, one or both will be replaced, then.

Thanks!!

 

[johntkucz]

Best answer selected by johntkucz.